Pages

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Splendor and Glory of the Sacred Image-Part II Early History

Early History

Our journey in
tracing the use of the sacred image leads us to the catacombs just outside of
Rome. Here we have some of the earliest depictions of Christ frescoed on the
walls underground where Christians had Masses for the dead who were buried
there. The images of ‘Christ and the Samaritan Women’ and ‘Christ the Good
Shepherd’ date back to the early third century. Here we see an image of Christ
the Good Shepherd from the catacombs of St. Callixtus. The image brings to mind
the Gospel of John 10:14-15, “I am the good shepherd; and I know mine, and mine
know me. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my
life for my sheep.” These images and others from the catacombs were once
thought to be the only Christian images to exist from this period. The
excavations from the house church in Dura-Europos on the Euphrates however
would change all of that. This archaeological treasure would now prove that the
early Christians used sacred images in their regular liturgical functions. The
Dura excavations of 1932 not only proved to be a pleasant surprise to Christian
iconophiles with the discovery of the Christian house chapel and its astounding
wall paintings, but also to the Jewish religious scholars who were completely
astonished to find a buried synagogue covered interiorly by iconic depictions
of the Old Testament. This unearthing event brought new light to Jewish scholars
who previously believed that images had no place in Jewish worship. It is also
interesting to note that the Jewish mural paintings are for the most part void
of movement, a core characteristic of the Christian sacred image. We will talk
more about this later in the lecture.

The Dura
excavation disproves two common theories that modern iconoclasts often pose
against the use of images in the Christian Church. The first being that there
were no public places of worship in the early Church that used images, and that
the use of images were only an infiltration of Roman pagan practice. We can
firmly state, based on the opinions of archaeological scholars, that the Dura
house church was not a prototype of the Christian image, but an example of a
Christian practice already well established. A scholar commenting on the Dura
site as it was being excavated wrote, “We are not dealing with prototypes, but
with types that are already firmly fixed. How much earlier than 200 A.D. these
iconographical forms were first invented, where, and by whom, we are not yet
ready to say. But this much, at least, is certain, as the study of the
iconography indicates, the tradition has nothing to do with Rome.” Being that
we have images firmly established in the Roman catacombs and in the Syrian
desert both in the early to mid third century indicates that the use of images
was more than an isolated practice in the Church, confined to under ground
burial chambers. Newer archaeological excavations are also increasing our
knowledge base of early Christian imagery. For example, the new excavations in
the catacombs of St. Thecla near Rome have now revealed late 4th century images
of the apostles.

The icon or
sacred image, developed in the same way that dogma and doctrine developed in
the Church. Just as the Church’s theology advanced in depth and understanding
in the first centuries of the Church, the design of the icon also developed and
advanced. Through the Church’s Ecumenical Councils, of which the first seven
were primarily of a Christological nature, the Church did not invent new
teachings, but concretized that which had already been passed down from Christ
and His apostles. This development of theology and sacred image are
inseparable. The iconographic theologian Leonid Ouspensky writes, “In all its
fullness, (the icon) has been inherent in the Church from the very first, but,
like other aspects of its teaching, it becomes affirmed gradually, in response
to the needs of the moment, as for instance in... reply to heresies and errors,
as in the iconoclastic period.” It was the Seventh Ecumenical Council of 787
that brought upon the repose of the iconoclastic controversy of the eighth
century. Certainly controversy was present in the early Church over the use of
images, this we cannot not deny. The early Church had good reason to be
cautious about the use of images for fear that the idol worship of the pagans
would not infiltrate the Church. I believe that this is the main reason we do
not see the use of statues earlier. Statues were readily identified more
closely with pagan idols, and therefore were not introduced until much later,
and primarily in the West. The technique used to paint these images were
obviously borrowed from earlier Persian, Egyptian, Roman and Greek secular
imagery. Like many things, the Church has always had a unique way of cleansing
and elevating secular practices, making them uniquely Christian, and the use of
images would be no exception. We can see a similarity of secular Egyptian
funerary paintings to the earliest Christian images. However, Byzantine art
scholars seem to unanimously state that the Christians, although borrowing
artistic ideas from their secular ancestors, created a unique Christian art
paradigm that would in essence demonstrate a reversal of the role of images
from that of their pagan ancestors. The material world would now be secondary
to the eternal spiritual world. For the Christian the spiritual world was not
some far off journey across the river of Styx as it was for the Egyptians, it
was a very clear and present reality for them. For the Christian, the sacred
image was a direct reminder of the corporeal integrating with the eternal.

The harsh
persecution against the early Christians made the widespread and open use of
images difficult, and many were probably destroyed under such persecutions.
This is certainly one reason we do not have earlier archaeological evidence than
the early third century. The persecutions made the symbolic images such as the
fish, the cross, the sailing ship, the lamb, or the palm expedient to use,
being that they were not explicit enough to attract attention, yet the images
such as that of the fish were invented to contain certain truths of the faith,
yet hidden to the untrained eye. We must
recognize that after the rise of Constantine and his Edict of Milan in
313, that many small older house churches were most likely destroyed and
replaced with larger churches. The edict which allowed the free practice of
Christianity in the Roman Empire made the house church obsolete, and any that
may have had images have probably been long buried or destroyed, as the Dura
Church. What early evidence we do have however demonstrates that the early
Church used images in her places of worship. This evidence also gives us good
reason to think that the Church authorities of the era also approved of their
use, since they would have been present at the liturgical functions which took
place at these sites.

The universal
Tradition among all of the apostolic Churches, including not only the Eastern
and Western Catholic Churches, but also the Eastern Orthodox and Coptic
Churches, etc all retain the use of the sacred image. The Church Fathers of the 4th
century such as Saint Gregory of Nyssa firmly substantiate the use of images as
one rooted in apostolic tradition and readily present in the larger churches of
his age. Saint Gregory describes one of them with great enthusiasm, “When a man
comes to a place like the one we are gathered here today, ... he is at once
inspired by the magnificence of the spectacle, seeing as he does, a building
splendidly wrought with regard to size and the beauty of its adornment, as
befits God’s temple,...The painter too has spread out the blooms of his art,
having depicted on an image the martyr’s brave deeds, his resistance, his
torments...” In Saint Gregory’s time, the mid fourth century, the Church had
begun a new phase of large basilica type churches which utilized fresco and
mosaic mediums in iconography. The iconography from some of the churches of the
mid fourth century in Italy and Greece give us examples of what Saint Gregory
was speaking about. Examples include the chapel of San Aquilino in Milan, and
the Hagios Giorgios in Salonika. These mosaic and frescoed images became the
standard medium of the icon until the turn of the millennium, when other
mediums became more predominate.

Live Mass!

Click Image to Watch the Extraordinary Form Everyday!

Catholic Champion Podcast on ITunes

Be sure to visit ITunes and subscribe to the Catholic Champion podcast. New sermons by the FSSP are now available. Go to the Itunes store and search in the top right text box for Catholic Champion. Subscriptions are free.

“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.”

Visit the Cardinal Manning Society

Cool Non-Catholic Sites

FSSP DVD

Get the instructional video on the Tridentine Liturgy.

Welcome to Catholic Champion blogspot.

It is important for people to have access to solid Thomistic Catholic reading material as well as solid spiritual sources. This is what I have now focused this blog towards. It is always a work in progress of course.